Pliers



Patented June 22 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS PRENTICE, OF SOUTHINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

PLIERS.

Application filed August 22, 1925. Serial No. 51,858.

My invention relates to improvements in pliers of the form having in combination with certain well-known and ordinary features, such as provision for grasping and gripping bolts, nuts, small pipe, and w re, and for cutting wire, means for facihtating the removal of cotter-pins, tacks, and the like; and the object of my improvement is to produce superior means for operating upon cotter-pins, involving the use of main jaws that are particularly adapted for gripping the head loops thereof, whether in the normal shape and condition or more or less deformed, and also a relatively enlarged fulcrum structure of rounded form for providing a relatively elongated roller bearing under working conditions, and which hearing structure is constructed in the form of auxiliary jaws that are the counterpart of the main jaws and located in offset relation of said main jaws.

In the accompanying drawing 2- Figure 1 is a side face view of my improved pliers as viewed from the side showing the head of the pivotal screw and the slot for shifting the operative bearing;

Fig. 2 is a view from the reverse face;

Fig. 3 is a side edge view;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation as viewed from the jaw end;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

My improved pliers comprise the pivotally connected mating members consisting of the upper member 10 and the lower member 11 and the pivotal pin of screw 12 and nut 13. The pivotal in 12 has the head 14 that is opposed to t e upper member 10. Said upper member has the short slot 15 that terminates by its ends in the circular end bearings 16 for permitting of shifting the operating bearing for the members 10 and 11 in the usual manner.

The members 10 and 11 have handles 17 of the usual form at one side of the pivotal pin 12 and at the other side thereof certain operative jaw features of common form. Thus adjacent the pin 12 and provided in the overlapping face portions 18 are the cooperating cutting recesses or slots 19 for cutting wire.

Outward from the overlapping portions 18 the members 10 and 11 are proyided with offset bends 20 so as to bring the outer aw structures 21 into substantially the same nary form. .the opposed faces 22 are of concave form 1 and are provided with relatively coarse teeth for gripping small pipe and the like, and outward from said curved faces 22 are opposed relatively flat faces 24 having finer teeth 25.

Coincident with the flat-faced jaws 24 and as viewed from the side of the lower member 11 are certain lug structures 26 that pertain to the present invention, and outward from the same are the main jaws 27 of the invention.

Said main jaws 27 are of appreciable length and the inner opposed edge faces 28 are of concave curved form and not adapted for close gripping or the like, the shape being such as to confine the active gripping action to the extreme ends or tips 29. The

outer boundary wall or face 30 of each of being bounded on all sides by converging walls or faces.

The lug structures 26 are offset inwardly from the active jaw tips 29; project outwardly from the adjacent faces of the members 10 and 11; and they may be briefly described as being the counterparts of the main jaws 27. Thus each lug structure 26 is in the form of an auxiliary jaw that has the relatively sharp tip 29*, the curved inner wall or face 28 the curved outer wall or face 30*, and the converging front and rear faces 31.

There are many situations as to cotterpins that involve no special difficulty and in which there would be little choice as to which of the jaws of the invention would be used, and either the main jaws 27 or the auxiliary jaws 26 could be used. It is in special situations that the utility of the invention appears and in which the main jaws 27 engage with the work and the structures of the auxiliary jaws 26 operate as roller bearing devices, the members 10 and 11 being actuated by the handles 17. In such use, the rounded faces 30 servevasthe active fulcrums or bearings.

The main or central lines of the individual jaws, extending inwardly from the tips, are of curved form, as seen at :or adjacent 28 and 28 in Figs. 5 and 6. I The mating '-jaws of each pair have tips closely opposed or substantially in contact when ,in closed position and the outer Walls or faces meet at the point of contact so as to form a substantially continuous curve.

The two sets of jaws are closely adjacent, the vone'pair being substantially in alinement with the handles and the other pair being projected individually from the i aces of said one pair. Also, as to details, the gripping jaws of one pair are substantially identical with the jaws of the other pair, and they provide, by the construction and arrangement described, a roller-bearing fulcrum 0n which'they' can be effectively tilted {SQ as to get a varying purchase on the substantially identical, the one pair with the other, the ,jaws of oneepairibei ng ipro- #jected individually trom the faces otthe jaws of the otherqpairythe jaws being-each Jot curved form and oooperatingone with the other so "as to provide aroller-bearinjg 'iulcru m on which they .ca'n-zbe ,efiectively tilted so as to get a Varying purchase onza 

